Thursday, October 13, 2005

Reopening this posting, the Online Journalism Review looks at whether mobile phone snappers can really hope to make money from their photos -- and whether they're just another way for newsdesks to cut costs.

I listened to Chris Brown's travelogue on my iPod while cycling to work this morning and was immediately transported from drizzly west London to the splendour of the High Himalayas.

Brown spent six months living and travelling with nomadic Kharnak yak herders. His documentary is a world away what we do in daily news, where we parachute in large teams with hundreds of kilos of gear and try to get them on air as quickly as possible.

It's one man on a yak with a minidisc recorder -- and that's not something you get to hear very often.

When a disaster takes place somewhere in the world, the aid industry shifts into high gear.

I use the word industry on purpose.

Since the South Asian earthquake struck the newsdesk has been indundated with press releases from charities offering interviews with their spokespeople, trips on their aid flights and filming opportunities at their projects.

Every single one of these organisations is doing vital, life-saving work.

But one thing I've learned through my involvement with MAG is that the voluntary sector is a cut-throat world and charities are as focused on financial considerations as they are on humanitarian ones.

At its best, this more businesslike approach can tap into new sources of funding which can be used to save more lives.

But as the Red cross recently noted in its annual Disasters Report, at its worst it can lead to turf wars between rival agencies, with charities failing to communicate, duplicating effort and competing for profile -- all while people around them die.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

A lesbian former nun, a stammering teen heart throb and a Portuguese transsexual have all had their shot at reality TV stardom -- and tonight people with disabilities were finally given their shot at 15 minutes of television celebrity.

In Beyond Boundaries a team of 11 people with varying physical disabilities face the challenge of crossing Nicaragua from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific Ocean.

The team features not one, not two, but three leg amputees as well as two upper limb amps.

It also includes screaming drama queen Charlie who must tick more diversity boxes than any other person in the history of television by being black and deaf and gay. How's that for minority representation?

Naturally, I'm rooting for below knee amputee Glenn, whose stump is the colour of a post box despite the liberal use of that kitbag essential for active amps everywhere -- the compeed blister plaster.

Beyond Boundaries is already provoking debate over its representation of disabled people, with some critics objecting to the "inspirational cripples heroically overcoming their physical limitations" stereotypes.

But perhaps the critics should relax.

The reality TV genre reduces every other section of society down to crude two-dimensional stereotypes for the purpose of mass public entertainment -- so why should people with disabilities be any different?

Most people are understandably shocked by the devastation and loss of life caused by the South Asia earthquake.

But anecdotal evidence suggests there's a significant minority of people who are less sympathetic.

In our phone-ins and e-mail and text message correspondence, a sentiment which keeps cropping up is "why should we care about people who hate the west" and, at its most extreme, "that's 30,000 fewer terrorists in the world."

No one would claim these views represent mainstream opinion -- and fringe groups often try to hijack the news agenda through co-ordinated letter writing campaigns.

So should a public broadcaster -- funded by licence fee payers who are being asked to swallow above inflation rises -- ignore the views (however objectionable) of a sizeable number of people who, after all, pay our wages?

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

It's exciting times in the world of digital newsgathering (or at least it is if you're a sad anorak like me.)

Some of my radio colleagues have begun gathering and editing interviews on PDAs using the Luci software package and sending them from wifi hotspots via FTP. It's an incredibly fast, flexible and cost effective way to work.

More exciting still, though, is the new BGAN network currently being rolled out by Inmarsat.

The system promises internet connection at speeds of up to half a megabit via satellite from virtually any spot on the planet.

What this means for broadcasters is that in the very near future we'll be able to digitally compress pictures -- either live or pre-recorded -- and send them (at a fraction of the cost of traditional uplinks) at speeds that were unimaginable just a few years ago...whether we're halfway up the Hindu Kush or at the top of Mount Everest.

The days of dragging huge, heavy and expensive satellite dishes around the world could soon be numbered.

Saturday, October 01, 2005

Reopening this posting, I've been reminded of another, far more important reason to object to Kevin Sites' new project for Yahoo.

Recently Yahoo -- which through "In the Hot Zone" is trying to cast itself as a pioneer of uncensored news -- provided information that helped the Chinese authorities convict a journalist for leaking state secrets.

Yahoo provided records showing that Shi Tao used a computer at his workplace to access his Yahoo e-mail account. The company's evidence helped secure a ten year jail sentence.

The company provided evidence that contributed to Shi’s arrest and conviction for activities that did not threaten China’s national security, but merely represented the exercise of his right to free expression and to criticise the government, as protected by China’s own constitution.

Reporters Without Borders note that Yahoo has signed the "Public Pledge on Self-Discipline for the China Internet Industry" -- in effect agreeing to restrict the free flow of information in Chinese markets.

Yahoo's response to the case was that of a multinational corporation with its eyes on the bottom line, not a newsgathering organisation dedicated to defending free speech:

"Just like any other global company, Yahoo must ensure that its local country sites must operate within the laws, regulations and customs of the country in which they are based," Yahoo said.

Sites should, at the very least, make a public statement supporting the unconditional release of a journalist sent to prison thanks to the actions of his employer.